Science applied: A walk through the lab

Visions of a safer, less-painful world seem to drive the researchers in the College’s applied science NDE laboratory. Whether creating the technology to scan prospective terrorists from afar using sound waves, perfecting the ability to interpret the sensor feedback necessary for the next generation of autonomous robots or simply working to replace reliance on
hard-tipped dental probes with a gentler alternative, the graduate students, working under the direction of Mark Hinders, professor of applied science, have tomorrow well in hand.

Although these and other projects under investigation may appear disconnected, each relies on the manipulation of “ultrasonic waves,” according to Hinders.

“We are developing the artificial intelligence that allows
us to make sense of these very complicated signals,” Hinders explained. “We are trying to build the sort of artificial brains that do what bats automatically
do.”

During a recent tour of the laboratory located in the basement of the
admissions building on Jamestown Road, Hinders displayed the high-tech
speaker—a parametric array, he called it—that enables an operator to focus a
beam of sound onto a subject and to interpret the echoes created. He
explained how the same interpretive strategies are advancing abilities to
inspect a variety of structural materials, including those used in aircraft,
ships and even howitzer armaments.

For the most part, graduate students are conducting the
individual experiments. They then spend a considerable portion of their time
writing the algorithms that essentially interpret their results.

“A key part of these are the supercomputer animations that
we create in order to understand the complex physics involved,” Hinders said.
“So, part of it is analysis, part of it is experimental work in the laboratory
or out in the field, and part of it is computer-simulated animations that allow
us to very rapidly see how changes in the signals relate to changes in the
materials.”

The creation of such animations is possible due to the
College’s SciClone computer cluster. He calls it “the big iron.”

“It helps us understand what we are discovering,” he said,
and then we write very efficient algorithms that can run on a modest computer
that can be used in a dental office, for instance, or go out on a robot.”